When is married, married

It seems that Charlize Theron has gotten married. This would not normally be news, but the way she got married is the interesting part. Theron and her 7 year boyfriend simply decided they were married, got rings and are now calling themselves married. So, the question is - are they really married. In terms of the law, clearly they're not. But in social and moral terms, I'd say they are married. Marriage at its very base is two people saying that they are committed to each other and love each other and want to spend their lives together. You can add a religious context to that as well as a legal component, but those are both 'plug-ins' to the base of what marriage is. They have taken the base of marriage and left out the other 'plug-ins'. Not to be pessimistic about this, but what happens if they 'divorce'? California has some interesting laws about common-law marriages (which is where I believe this marriage belongs), so the 'divorce' question might be answered by those laws - none of which do I actually know. I certainly hope that they never have to answer that question. Best of luck to them especially since they live in a world where only 10% of marriages last - or at least that's the way it seems.

Update: According to Wikipedia California does not sanction common-law marriages. So, I guess that is not an option for Mr. and Mrs. Theron.